George Wein to Receive Flo-Bert Award for Lifetime Achievement in Tap Artistry

NEW YORK - Legendary jazz impresario George Wein will receive the Flo-Bert Award for Lifetime Achievement in Tap Artistry from the New York Committee to Celebrate National Tap Dance at the 16th Annual Tap Extravaganza at the Fashion Institute of Technology's Haft Auditorium Day on May 30, 2004. The Flo-Bert Award (named for 1920's entertainers Florence Mills and Bert Williams) recognizes those who have advanced the artistry of tap through performance, teaching and choreography.

In 1962, tap dance history was made when George Wein featured “A History of Tap Dance and its Relationship to Jazz" at his illustrious Newport Jazz Festival. Prior to this event, the popularity of the dance form was waning, seen only in nightclubs and on movie screens. On that summer day the great rhythm dancer Baby Lawrence, renowned tap innovator Charles “Honi" Coles, legendary hoofer Pete Nugent and “Duke's Dancer," Bunny Briggs dazzled the Newport audience, the largest to date for a tap performance, and forever changed the presentation of tap.

According to Wein, “One of the thrills and privileges for me has been the opportunity to work in jazz related fields and have an influence on the way they are presented."

The list of celebrated dancers who have made their marks at Wein's festivals reads like a Who's Who in Tap Dance with Buster Brown, Brenda Bufalino, “Cookie" Cook, Arthur Duncan, “Bubber" Gaines, Savion Glover, Chuck Green, Gregory Hines, Sandman Sims, and Jimmy Slyde to name just a few.

Created in 1954, the Newport Jazz Festival